


Cars and Windows

by loisselina (LoisSelina)



Category: Prodigal Son (TV 2019)
Genre: Canon Compliant, Gen, Gil Arroyo Acting as Malcolm Bright's Parental Figure, Good Parent Gil Arroyo, Or near enough, Parent Gil Arroyo, Parental Gil Arroyo, Protective Gil Arroyo, also Gil being involved in Malcolms childhood is important to me, just using all the dad gil things because this episode was extra and i loved it so much, series 1 episode 13
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-05
Updated: 2020-02-05
Packaged: 2021-02-28 04:15:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,036
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22577668
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LoisSelina/pseuds/loisselina
Summary: Set during s1 e13 after Malcolm wreck's Gil's car, Dani and JT find out that Malcolm has a bit of a past with the car.
Relationships: Gil Arroyo & Malcolm Bright
Comments: 16
Kudos: 194





	Cars and Windows

**Author's Note:**

> It's my first time writing for this fandom as I've only just started watching the show but I love it so much and Dad Gil owns my heart.

Malcolm Bright had the good sense to stay quiet as the paramedic checked him over, he was sore and he knew that when he finally changed out of that god awful suit he would find he was covered in bruises, but he hadn’t damaged himself too badly.

“You’ll be okay, we’ll give you these for the pain-.” 

“-No, thank you.” Malcolm said without even bothering to 

“He’ll take them.” 

Malcolm didn’t think that Gil had been listening, he was standing next to the ambulance Malcolm was perched on but the older man had been staring at his now destroyed car, not Malcolm. 

“Gil I-”

Gil turned to look at Malcolm, his face unreadable. “They won’t interfere with your meds, take them, the adrenaline will wear off soon and you’ll feel the pain.” 

Malcolm opened his mouth to argue but shut it when he caught sight of the tow truck parking up next to Gil’s car. He nodded then took the tablets as though they were skittles, not medicine, he took enough tablets to not be bothered by a couple more being added to mix of them (and licorice) inside him.

  
  


* * *

Back at the station Gil went straight to his office while Malcolm followed JT and Dani back to their desks listening to them chattering while mentally thinking of how to make it up to Gil, or at least 

“I had nearly talked him into letting me borrow that car too.” JT said mournfully.

“You wouldn’t have, he nearly killed me when I ‘borrowed it’ when I was sixteen, he never let anyone borrow it, not even Jackie used it.” Malcolm volunteered without even realising he had said that out loud.

“You borrowed Gil’s car?” JT’s mouth hung open and Malcolm realised that he had spoken, and that JT didn’t quite believe Gil would let any age Malcolm close enough to car keys to be able to steal it. 

“Wait, you were only sixteen?” Malcolm nodded his head. “So, you’re not such a boy scout, y’know the whole genius Harvard FBI thing.” Dani’s eyes were alight with amusement and what Malcolm was almost certain was pride. 

“Did you do a background check on me?” There was laughter and a little something else he didn’t know how to label in his voice. 

Dani shrugged but didn’t elaborate or even look embarrassed. 

“You  _ do _ remember he cut a guys hand off pretty much the second he joined the team right?” JT raised one of his brows at her but like Dani there was a respect in his eyes, mostly that Malcolm had already wrecked one of Gil’s cars and was still breathing. 

“Well, yeah but I also saved him-” Malcolm started to protest when he heard Gil’s voice calling his name from his office. Malcolm’s face paled a shade. 

“Well, we’ll miss you.” JT said after a brief silence between the three of them. 

“I’ll say something nice at your funeral.” Dani added. 

“Thanks guys.” Malcolm let out in a small laugh before dragging his feet the short distance between the bullpen and the lieutenant’s office. 

* * *

Gil was stood staring out of the window when Malcolm entered the office and closed the door behind him.

“Okay, Gil, I know what you’re going to say-”

“Malcolm you jumped out of a  _ window _ !”

Malcolm shut his mouth before finally saying. “Okay, I guess I didn’t know what you were going to say.” Gil was frowning at him and giving him that stern yet protective look which Jessica had never quite perfected. “Gil, it was either that or getting blown up.” He tried to reason.    
Truthfully it wasn’t the most dangerous thing Malcolm had done, this was definitely small fries, but Malcolm was pretty smart, smart enough to not point that out to a clearly upset Gil.

“Bomb squad were around the corner.” 

“They wouldn’t have got there in time, the landmine was unstable, and my hand could have shook and then it would have gone off.” He knew that he didn’t know that for certain but it seemed much more likely than the bomb squad getting there in time. 

Gil had seemed to have calmed down but at the end of the sentence the fire seemed to return to his eyes. “And what are you doing cracking jokes when you’re the only thing stopping some russian landmine from going off?!”

“I thought it was funny.” He mumbled looking down at the floor, he was still sure it was funny, he was almost certain JT had laughed a little. He chanced a look up at Gil’s face. 

Gil looked at Malcolm pulling the same hopeful puppy dog look which had caused him to take Malcolm to a crime scene instead of the airport. He sighed letting go of his frustration. “Are you trying to give me a heart attack, kid?” 

Malcolm let out a small laugh, relief that Gil wasn’t too mad, or holding a grudge. 

“I’m serious.” He said trying to look stern but he was smiling and clearly joking around a little. He lifted his hand to point at the hair on his head. “All of these grey hairs are from you, you know that right?”

Malcolm smiled at his father-figure. “I can recommend a good therapist? If you don’t mind sitting with toys around you.”

“I think I’ll survive without that.” Gil nodded his head towards the door and Malcolm opened it and called for the rest of their team to join them. 

Gil turned back to the window looking out at his car being taken away, he thumbed the rabbit’s foot keyring as he did so. He would have been more pissed at Malcolm for deciding to be the one to sacrifice himself again, or at least trying to, but now wasn’t the right time.   
“Second car you’ve managed to total, kid, please tell me this isn’t going to be third time lucky.”

“You wrecked another one of Gil’s cars!” 

“You’ve done this before?!” 

Malcolm sighed and looked at the ground again, both JT and Dani seemed endlessly amused by his teenage antics, but he felt suddenly as though his mother was showing his baby pictures on a first date. He was never going to live this down. 


End file.
